The man that resides here and knows all is not home and has been to busy to help with my Q. Sooooo here you folks are and I know you'll have one for me . I need an apple press. I need to be able to make it myself . Or if you want to think of it the other way just help me get the juice from the apples and pears. Thanks for all your help

-- Becky (Joel681@webtv.net), July 07, 2000

Answers

If you'll provide your mailing address I can sent you two designs for improvised presses from Reader's Digest "Back to Basics". However, I assume your time is short so here is something you might be able to cobble together quickly off the top of my head:

Needed: Garbage can with lid. Several garbage bags. Clean feet. 5-gallon plastic bucket. A couple of short lengths of 2"x4". T-shirt with arm hole and neck holes sewn closed. Plastic dinner plates (the heavy-duty kind - not the throw-a-ways) about half the inside diameter of the bucket about half way up.

Put two layers of plastic bags inside of garbage can. Cut apples or pears into pieces and put maybe a foot deep in the bottom. Have an apple or pear stomp until you have a fine mash.

Drill holes, maybe about 1/2" around the bottle on on the bottom of the plastic bucket maybe about 2" apart on the sides and perhaps either or so in the bottom. Sterile the garbage can lid (or find some substitute). Put it on the floor. Put the short lengths of 2"x4" in the center as a base. Put the plastic bucket on top of them. Put the mash inside the t-shirt, tie off the top and put it in the bucket. Place the dinner plate (two or three together would be fine for support) on top of the mash in the t-shirt. Now either you or someone else stand on top of the plates to press down the mash. The liquids (cider or whatever pear juice would be) should come out of the holes at the bottom of the plastic bucket and be collected by whatever container you are using underneath. If the plates seem to touch the sides before all the juices are out, remove them and just use the feet as a stand-by.

Repeat process as necessary. I suspect any critters you have would love the squeezed out mash.

Everyone is welcome to critique this 'quick and dirty' method.

Ken (you are only as knowledgeable as your reference books) Scharabok

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 07, 2000.

Becky, you can find plans for making an an apple press based on a used-car jack at Andrew Lea's Wittenham Hills website. I built mine based on his plans for under $20. (If I had to do it again, I'd use 6x6 timbers instead of 4x4s.) The website is very worthwhile for anyone interested in making cider, sweet or hard. Mr. Lea lists two URLs in his messages to the "Cider Digest" newsgroup:

http://www.cider.org.uk OR http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea

To get the maximum amount of juice from your apples or pears, they must first be ground to a granular pulp. Tim Bray, another Cider Digest contributor, has written about making a "Yellman-style" grinder by mounting a new 3/4-horsepower garbage disposal with stainless steel blades on a tub. When I wrote to him about his design, he responded that 3/4-hp was almost too much power, and that a cheaper, 1/2-hp model probably would work better. (I haven't built my grinder yet; that's next month's project.) Both of these ideas may be more than you need, but I suspect there are others on the list with an interest in apple juice and cider, so I hope this helps someone.

-- Rog (flanders@probe.net), July 08, 2000.

I was looking through the catalog for Cumberland General Store (800-334-4640) - catalog $4.00 - and see they sell manufactured fruit presses. Two models run less than $170.

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 11, 2000.

Checked my Lehman's Catalog (216-857-5441) - catalog used to be $2 - and they have fruit press cheaper than Cumberlands. One model which will hold eight quarts of fruit is $99.50 postpaid (at least at the time of my catalog).

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 11, 2000.

As Ken suggested, the Back to Basics plans. I think my Dad made one once using those plans and it was great. I think they gave it away or sold it or something, but now we borrow our friend's, which is bigger. Hope you find something soon!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), July 11, 2000.

I just got done with building and drawing plans for a apple press for the Sept/Oct issue of Countryside. Stay tuned

-- Steve Belanger (steveb2win@yahoo.com), July 13, 2000.